Although the smartphone tracker was not originally launched by Apple, AirTags, which has a huge user base, has caused a lot of worries in the industry. On the one hand, Apple users can use the Find My network to locate and retrieve wallets, keys and other items more easily. On the other hand, AirTags have also become an efficient criminal tool for some ulterior motives.
With Apple officially releasing AirTag in April 2021, the company’s Find My network has also entered the vast smart tracker market. AirTag is clearly a useful gadget for users who need to track things like valuables or keys, but it also poses a number of security concerns for users and others who don’t know it.
To address this concern, Apple will apparently have to address the inability to detect rogue AirTags devices for its 3 billion Android users (and iOS users who don’t support UWB technology). Last month, it was reported that certain criminals began using AirTags to track luxury cars and rob them. Even though Apple implemented some countermeasures, it, unfortunately, failed to meet expectations.
Download Tracker Detect Via Play Store
In addition, the BBC reported that a number of American women reported to the police that unidentified people had been following them in the past few months. Fortunately, their iPhones sent out an alert that they were being tracked by an unregistered AirTag. Embarrassingly, older iPhones and Android smartphones don’t natively offer this feature, and Apple can’t easily fix the problem.
Even though the Cupertino tech giant released a Tracker Detect app on the Google Play app store, its usage was negligibly low (only around 100,000 downloads). This means that many people are unaware of the risks involved, and it may be too late to install the app since Tracker Detect does not support automatic detection and requires the user to perform a manual scan.
Some might argue for Apple that the AirTag will beep at 60dB within 8-24 hours of being detached from the tethered device. However, those with ulterior motives, they can disable the tracker before the alarm goes off. To sum up, after Apple opens this “Pandora’s Box” unless the company reaches deep cooperation with Google, society will still face a series of troubles caused by AirTag.